"Alif Laam Raa. A book which we have revealed to you (Muhammad)
so that you may lead the people from out of the darknesses into the
light by their Lord's leave to the path of the All-Mighty, the
Praiseworthy."
[Qur'an 14:1]

The Qur'an ("Qor-Ann") is a Message from God (Allah) to humanity. It was
transmitted to us in a chain starting from the Almighty Himself to
the angel Gabriel to the Prophet
Muhammad . This message
was given to the Prophet in pieces over a period spanning
approximately 23 years (610 CE to 622 CE). The Prophet was 40 years
old when the Qur'an began to be revealed to him, and he was 63 when the
revelation was completed. The language of the original message was Arabic,
but it has been translated into many other languages.

The Qur'an is one leg of two which form the basis of Islam. The second leg
is the Sunnah of the
Prophet . What makes the Qur'an different from the Sunnah is
primarily its form. Unlike the Sunnah, the Qur'an is quite literally the
Word of Allah, whereas the Sunnah was inspired by Allah but the wording and
actions are the Prophet's. The Qur'an has not been expressed using any
human's words. Its wording is letter for letter fixed by no one but Allah.

Prophet Muhammad was the final Messenger of Allah to humanity, and
therefore the Qur'an is the last Message which Allah has sent to us. Its
predecessors such as the Torah, Psalms, and Gospels have all been
superceded. It is an obligation - and blessing - for all who hear of the
Qur'an and Islam to investigate it
and evaluate it for themselves. Allah has guaranteed that He will protect
the Qur'an from human tampering, and today's readers can find exact copies
of it all over the world. The Qur'an of today is the same as the Qur'an
revealed to Muhammad .

In Islam, the Arabic word sunnah has come to denote the
way Prophet Muhammad , the Messenger of Allah, lived his life. The Sunnah is the second source
of Islamic jurisprudence, the first being the Qur'an. Both
sources are indispensable; one cannot practice Islam without
consulting both of them. The Arabic word hadith (pl.
ahadith) is very similar to Sunnah, but not identical. A hadith is a
narration about the life of the Prophet or what he approved
- as opposed to his life itself, which is the Sunnah as already mentioned.

In M. M. Azami's Studies in Hadith Methodology and Literature, the
following precise definition of a hadith is given,

According to Muhaddithiin [scholars of hadith -ed.] it stands for 'what was
transmitted on the authority of the Prophet, his deeds, sayings, tacit
approval, or description of his sifaat (features) meaning his physical
appearance. However, physical appearance of the Prophet is not included
in the definition used by the jurists.'

Thus hadith literature means the literature which consists of the narrations
of the life of the Prophet and the things approved by him. However, the
term was used sometimes in much broader sense to cover the narrations about
the Companions [of the Prophet -ed.] and Successors [to the Companions -ed.]
as well.

The explosion of Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries confronted Islamic
scholars with a daunting task: to preserve the knowledge of the Sunnah
of the Prophet . Hence the science of hadith evaluation was born.
We recommend that you read the "Introduction to the Science of Hadith"
below to understand the tremendous efforts that were required to sift
the true reports from the false reports. The success of the early scholars
is also captured below by some collections of hadith.